Foxconn installs 10,000 industrial robots in one of its factories
Foxconn is a company that you might have heard of. It doesn't market many products under its own brand, but the gadgets that are assembled in its production plants are likely present in your very own home. Some of these include the iPhone, iPad, Amazon Kindle, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, among many others.
What has caused the Foxconn name to end up on quite a few headlines, however, are the dodgy working conditions in its factories. In fact, the stress that workers are exposed to is so harsh that nets are installed under the windows of the manufacturer's dormitories in order to avoid suicides. Furthermore, Foxconn admitted last month that it had hired underage workers, aged between 14 and 16. It is estimated that the company employs about 1.2 million people worldwide.
30,000 robots will be installed in Foxconn factories by year's end
At this time, it is too early to predict how many workers the new robots will replace. The machines will initially be used to facilitate the manufacturing process instead of handling it entirely, but eventually, they should be able to fully substitute a fraction of Foxconn employees.
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